Top Clients Pressured DOMA Firm?

UPDATED: A spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign confirms the LGBT advocacy group put the pressure on Atlanta law firm King and Spalding and spoke to top clients in an effort to get the firm to drop its case defending the Defense of Marriage Act for House Republicans.

"King and Spalding's clients are listed on its website, so we did what you would expect us to do," HRC spokesman Fred Sainz told The Plum Line. "We are an advocacy firm that is dedicated to improving the lives of gays and lesbians. It is incumbent on us to launch a full-throated educational campaign so firms know that these kinds of engagements will reflect on the way your clients and law school recruits think of your firm."

Earlier, Talking Points Memo, citing unnamed sources, carried reports that Atlanta-based Coca-Cola "directly intervened to press the firm to extricate itself from the case."

A Coca-Cola spokesman declined comment, though the representative emphasized the company's pro-LGBT equality stances.

King and Spalding partner Paul Clement (pictured) resigned as a result of the firm's action.

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